Welcome to this week’s edition of Goalside Gossip!

It was a loaded weekend of NWSL action. Portland and Gotham FC played out a wild 2-2 draw at Providence Park, one that featured Sam Kerr's first NWSL start in almost seven years, and she made the most of it. Boston Legacy shut out the Kansas City Current 1-0 in Rhode Island, the Washington Spirit edged Denver Summit FC to stretch their lead at the top of the table, and Angel City's win streak came to a stunning end against the league's last place side.

Off the pitch, the bigger shock landed Monday, when Gotham FC and Esther González agreed to part ways as the striker steps away to attend to personal matters in Spain. The league's run of ACL injuries also continued, claiming Chicago's Jordyn Huitema and San Diego's Trinity Armstrong for the season, while Mallory Swanson and Emily Sonnett picked up knee injuries of their own. And the Women's Africa Cup of Nations kicked off in Morocco, with a host of NWSL stars chasing 2027 World Cup tickets for their countries.

Let's get into it.

Game Summaries (NWSL):

News:

Portland and Gotham FC delivered one of the wildest matches of the season, playing to a 2-2 draw at Providence Park that had milestones, debuts, and a bit of controversy all rolled into one. Gotham struck first through Midge Purce, before Portland's Renée Lyles leveled things with her first professional goal, a strike from the top of the box.

Jessie Fleming put the Thorns back in front before halftime, but Gotham would not go away. Sam Kerr, making her first NWSL start in almost seven years, delivered in the 62nd minute, scoring the equalizer for her 78th career regular season goal.

The result leaves Portland unbeaten at home this season and pushed Gotham to 31 points, though the Bats slipped two points behind Washington at the top of the table after the Spirit won later in the weekend. Portland also gave a first NWSL look to Dutch forward Nina Nijstad, who came on as a 69th minute substitute.

Boston Legacy FC picked up a hard fought 1-0 win over the Kansas City Current at Centreville Bank Stadium on Saturday, bouncing back from last week's narrow loss to the Washington Spirit in front of 8,939 fans.

Aïssata Traoré broke the deadlock in the 18th minute, pouncing on a loose ball off a deflected corner kick. Boston goalkeeper Casey Murphy came up with several key saves down the stretch to preserve the clean sheet, Boston's third shutout in its last four matches.

The match also brought milestones for Kansas City. Midfielder Debinha reached 5,000 regular season minutes for the club, becoming just the seventh player in franchise history to do so, while Vanessa DiBernardo made her 50th career appearance for the Current off the bench. Kansas City, without Temwa Chawinga due to Malawi's WAFCON call up, now sit sixth with Boston climbing to 12th.

The Washington Spirit stretched their lead at the top of the NWSL table with a 1-0 win over Denver Summit FC in front of 15,169 fans at Audi Field on Women's Empowerment Night. Sofia Cantore settled it in the 61st minute, her shot taking a deflection on its way past Denver goalkeeper Abby Smith for what proved to be the only goal of the night.

The scoreline flattered the hosts. Denver out shot Washington 17 to 13 and racked up 35 touches in the Spirit box, but managed just one shot on target. A Lindsey Heaps penalty was also overturned by VAR. Head coach Nick Cushing said afterward that he had never had a team so dominant on the road, and that he is caught between frustration and patience. Washington now sits on 33 points through 16 matches, two clear of second place Gotham, while Denver stays 10th on 19.

The biggest upset of the weekend came under the lights at BMO Stadium, where last place Racing Louisville ended Angel City's three game win streak with a 2-1 victory on Pride Night. Rookie forward Maja Lardner, the former Georgetown Hoya, scored both Louisville goals, the first two of her professional career.

Angel City, who had won three straight by 2-0 scorelines coming out of the summer break, could not find a way through until Sveindís Jónsdóttir pulled one back in the 80th minute off an assist from substitute Sophia Mattice. It was too little, too late. Interim coach Leif Smerud was blunt afterward, saying his side could not create enough in the first half and that the halftime deficit was probably deserved. The win was Louisville's first since May 8 and its first road points of the season, while Angel City (7-7-1, 22 points) slipped from seventh to eighth.

Sam Kerr's homecoming to Gotham FC keeps hitting new milestones. The Australian international made her official return on July 16, coming off the bench in the 64th minute of Gotham's 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit, in front of a record crowd of 42,175 at Citi Field, the first ever women's sporting event at the Queens ballpark.

Kerr called the night a bit weird, but was struck by how much the league had changed. When she last played here, the club was called Sky Blue FC and played at Rutgers in front of a few thousand fans. This, she said, is what women's football deserves.

She topped it on Friday night, making her first NWSL start since 2019 in Gotham's 2-2 draw at Portland. The 32-year-old delivered right on cue, scoring the equalizer for her 78th career regular season goal and extending her lead as the league's all time leading scorer. It had been six years and 306 days since her last NWSL goal.

Kerr signed with Gotham through the 2030 season after six and a half years at Chelsea, where she won five Women's Super League titles, three FA Cups, and back to back Golden Boots. She has unfinished business on this side of the Atlantic, telling Sports Illustrated that a team trophy is what eluded her during her first NWSL run.

In a stunner that landed Monday, Gotham FC and forward Esther González agreed to a mutual contract termination as the Spanish striker temporarily steps away from soccer to attend to personal matters in Spain. She leaves the defending champions a year and a half before her deal was set to expire.

The timing is hard to process. Nine days ago she came off the bench to score twice in the final ten minutes of Gotham's 3-2 comeback over Seattle, the goals that made her the club's all time leading regular season scorer. She missed Friday's draw at Portland, and by Monday she was gone.

González arrived in 2023 fresh off winning the World Cup with Spain and immediately scored the game winner in that year's NWSL Championship. Across three seasons she piled up 30 goals in 64 appearances, two league titles, a Concacaf W Championship, two Best XI selections, and a 2025 MVP finalist nod. She was also Gotham's leading scorer this season with six.

Club president of soccer operations Yael Averbuch West called her a model professional who helped win four major trophies, and said the club will support her wherever her path leads. González, for her part, said Gotham will always hold a special place in her heart, and that it is where she grew as a player, a professional, and a person. For a Gotham side sitting second in the table and already down Emily Sonnett, losing their leading scorer overnight reshapes the run in.

The NWSL's run of knee injuries kept piling up over the past week. Chicago Stars forward Jordyn Huitema tore her ACL during the club's July 18 loss to Angel City and has been placed on the season ending injury list. She went down off the ball in the 28th minute with a non contact injury.

The 25-year-old Canadian international had four goals in 12 appearances, a three year high for her, and accounted for half of Chicago's total goals this season. The injury likely rules her out of Canada's Concacaf W Championship in November, a direct qualifier for the 2027 World Cup. Finding out she tore her ACL, Huitema wrote, has been heartbreaking.

San Diego Wave defender Trinity Armstrong also landed on the season ending injury list after rupturing her right ACL, just two matches into her return from a left knee injury suffered last year. It is the 18-year-old's second major knee injury in as many seasons.

Chicago's misfortune did not stop with Huitema. Forward Mallory Swanson missed Friday's trip to Orlando with a knee injury, her first game out since returning from maternity leave in May, and the Stars fell 1-0 without her. And Gotham defender Emily Sonnett was stretchered off inside the opening ten minutes at Portland after planting awkwardly on the turf. Gotham said only that she would be evaluated further in New Jersey, and the club has yet to announce the severity.

The Women's Africa Cup of Nations kicked off in Morocco on Sunday, and NWSL fans have plenty of reasons to tune in. The 16 team tournament runs through August 16 across Rabat and Casablanca, and its top four finishers punch automatic tickets to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, with two more advancing to an intercontinental playoff.

Eleven NWSL players are on rosters across eight countries. Malawi is making its first ever WAFCON appearance, led by sisters Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga. Temwa, the two time reigning NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner with the Kansas City Current, has nine goals in 12 appearances this season.

She trails only Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda, who captains Zambia and leads the NWSL Golden Boot race with 12 goals in 15 matches. Zambia also brings Bay FC's Racheal Kundananji, once the most expensive signing in women's football. Washington Spirit's Gift Monday and Rosemonde Kouassi, Chicago's Michelle Alozie, and Boston's Aïssata Traoré round out the NWSL contingent chasing continental glory and a spot in Brazil.